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China Defends COVID-19 Data-sharing as WHO Seeks More Access

FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa
FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa
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China Defends COVID-19 Data-sharing as WHO Seeks More Access

FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa
FILED - 02 March 2024, China, Beijing: A medical service member takes a throat swab from a media representative of the People's Congress in China for a Covid-19 test. Photo: Johannes Neudecker/dpa

China has shared the most COVID-19 data and research results in the international community, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after the World Health Organization repeated its call for more information and access.
China is also the only country that organized experts to share traceability progress with the WHO on many occasions, Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, told a regular news conference.
In a statement on Monday, the WHO again asked China to share data and access to assist its efforts to understand the origins of COVID-19, the first cases of which were detected in central China five years ago.
According to the WHO, over 760 million COVID-19 cases and 6.9 million deaths have been recorded worldwide. In mid-2023, it declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency but said the disease should be a permanent reminder of the potential for new viruses to emerge with devastating consequences.
Data from the early days of the pandemic was uploaded by Chinese scientists to an international database in early 2023, a few months after China dismantled all its COVID-19 restrictions and reopened its borders to the rest of the world, Reuters reported.
The data showed DNA from multiple animal species - including raccoon dogs - was present in environmental samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, suggesting that they were "the most likely conduits" of the disease, according to a team of international researchers.
In 2021, a WHO-led team spent weeks in and around Wuhan - where the first cases were detected - and said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal but further research was needed.
China had said no more visits were necessary and that the search of early cases should be conducted in other countries.
"On the issue of COVID-19 traceability, China has shared the most data and research results and made the greatest contribution to global traceability research," Mao said.

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Taiwan Demonstrates Sea Defenses against Potential Chinese Attack as Tensions Rise with Beijing

A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
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Taiwan Demonstrates Sea Defenses against Potential Chinese Attack as Tensions Rise with Beijing

A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO

Taiwan on Thursday demonstrated its sea defenses against a potential Chinese attack as tensions rise with Beijing, part of a multitiered strategy to deter an invasion from the mainland.
The island’s navy highlighted its Kuang Hua VI fast attack missile boats and Tuo Chiang-class corvettes in waters near Taiwan’s largest port of Kaohsiung, a major hub for international trade considered key to resupplying Chinese forces should they establish a beachhead on the island.
The Kuang Hua VI boats, with a crew of 19, carry indigenously developed Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles and displayed their ability to take to the sea in an emergency to intercept enemy ships about to cross the 44-kilometer (24-nautical mile) limit of Taiwan’s contiguous zone, within which governments are permitted to take defensive action.
China routinely sends ships and planes to challenge Taiwan’s willingness and ability to counter intruders, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets, activate missile systems and dispatch warships. Taiwan demanded on Wednesday that China end its ongoing military activity in nearby waters, which it said is undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and disrupting international shipping and trade.
Mountainous Taiwan's strategy is to counter the much larger Chinese military with a relatively flexible defense that can prevent Chinese troops from crossing the strait. Landing sites are few on Taiwan's west coast facing China, forcing Beijing to focus on the east coast.
Hsiao Shun-ming, captain of a Tuo Chiang-class corvette, said his ship’s relatively small size still allows it to “deliver a formidable competitive power” against larger Chinese ships. The Tuo Chiang has a catamaran design and boasts high speeds and considerable stealth ability.
Taiwan has in recent years reinvigorated its domestic defense industry, although it still relies heavily on US technology such as upgraded fighter jets, missiles, tanks and detection equipment. US law requires it to consider threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” and American and allied forces are expected to be a major factor in any conflict.
Thursday's exercise “demonstrates the effectiveness of asymmetric warfare, and Taiwan’s commitment to defense self-reliance,” said Chen Ming-feng, rear admiral and commander of the navy’s 192 Fleet specializing in mine detection. “We are always ready to respond quickly and can handle any kind of maritime situation.”
China's authoritarian one-party Communist government has refused almost all communication with Taiwan's pro-independence governments since 2016, and some in Washington and elsewhere say Beijing is growing closer to taking military action.
China considers Taiwan a part of its territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary, while most Taiwanese favor their de facto independence and democratic status.